Title: Salt or Not?

Broad Question

Will salt effect the boiling point?

Specific Question

Will adding salt make the boiling point higher?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesiezed that adding salt will raise the boiling point. That is because salt, sugar, and other substances raise the boiling point, but stretch the time that it takes to boil.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: salt

Dependent Variable: boiling point

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

amount of salt.
amount of water.
heat used for each trial.
same flasks.
same starting water temperature.
same water temp. before it's used to boil.
same heat source.
same amount of heat for each flask.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

boiling point: The temperature at which a liquid boils at a fixed pressure, especially under standard atmospheric conditions.
boiling water: Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point.

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General Plan

The experiment that was conducted showed if adding salt to water affected the boiling point. This experiment was tested in the science lab. It was completed between the dates of 3/4/12-3/ 9/12.There were six trials for each condition. The three conditions were water without salt, water with two teaspoons of salt, and water with four teaspoons of salt. This data was measured by a computer that was connected to three thermometers. The thermometer measured the temperature of the water every five seconds. For every two trials the thermometers will change into a different water condition. This is going to control the experiment and keep the results accurate. When the water was at a boil, the temperature will be measured for each condition, for all trials. This experiment will show if there is a change of the boiling point when salt is added to water.

Potential Problems And Solutions

A problem could accur if there isn't the same amount of water in each flask.
Also if when adding salt, the measurments were not accurate.
If there wasn't the same amount of heat for each flask.
A problem with the thermometers recording the accurate tempuature.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

The only saftey concern would be that when conducting this expreiment you would work with boiling water, and very hot plates. It's sugested to use "hot hands" when taking off the hotplates. Be mindful of the hot water, and be aware of the surroundings. Always make sure to unplug all electric equipment.

Experimental Design:

Resources and Budget Table

Materials:

• ¾ cup of Morton iodized table salt (available) -free
• Heat Source(3 hot plates in science lab)
• Nikon Camera(available)
• Thermometer(3 for each condition) that’s connected to a computer(available)
• Measuring teaspoons.
• Mr Yahna’s computer (records time, and temp. Available)
• three 600 Millimeter glass beaker (available)

Data Table

Time Line
-Design, and collection of all materials complete by 3/2/12 (jbes)
-Run experiment(test, no data) completed between 3/4/12-3/9/12 (jbes)
-Run experiment (collect first data) completed between 3/11/12-3/21/12 (jbes)
-Complete all trials of experiment,(collect all data) (JBES)
-Complete all data analysis; mean median, range, graphs (home)
-Data, Observations, Evidence, completed by 3/23/12
-Results and Conclusions completed by 3/25/12
-Wiki Page completed by 4/9/12
-Display Board completed by 4/27/12

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Background Research

Salt: Salt, sugar, and practically any other substance elevates the boiling point and therefore shortens cooking time. The difference in temperature between unsalted and salted water (one teaspoon of salt per quart of water) is about 1° to 2° F, a difference that can be critical in cooking situations demanding exactness.

Boiling Point: The temperature at which a liquid boils at a fixed pressure, especially under standard atmospheric conditions.

A hot plate- is a portable self-contained tabletop appliance that features one, two or more gas burners or electric heating elements. Hot plates are often used for food preparation, generally in locations where a full kitchen stove would not be convenient or practical, as hot plates are easily moved from one location to another.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_plate
__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_cooking__
http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/how-does-salt-affect-the-boiling-point-of-water.html
__http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingswork/f/boiling-point-of-water.htm__
__[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal__]]t
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling

Detailed Procedure

1. Gather materials.
2. Label 3 flasks: without salt, label A, with two teaspoons of salt B, and C for four teaspoons.
3. Place 200 mL of tap water in each of three 600ml flasks(water temperature should be around 20 degrees Celsius).
4. Measure 2 teaspoons of salt and pour into flask B.
5. Measure 4 teaspoons of salt and pour into flask C.
6. No salt for Flask A.
7. Plug the hot plates in the outlets.
8. Put 1 probe in each flask(at the same time).
9. Turn on hot plates at approximately the same time, (highest temperature).Then place the flasks on the hot plates(at the same time)
10. Then place the flasks on the hot plates(at the same time)
11. the probe will record the temperature, time and that data will show up on the computer screen.
12. The water is at a boil when the water stays at the same temperature for at least two minutes.

13. As this is happening, notes, pictures, and observations will be taken.This data will save(computer data) so after all 3 flasks are boiling, comparing the 3 water conditions will be necessary.
14. When everything is done, turn of hot plates and let everything cool.
15. when everything is cool use “hot hands” to take flasks of the hot place, doing this will prevent burning your hands.
16. then dump out all three flasks, it may take an half hour before the flasks cool down for the next trial.
17.This same process will be done five more times, so we can average the boiling point data for each water condition.

Photo List

1.image of the computer with data
2.all three conditions at a boil
3. the salt
4. the flask we used
5. the thermometers

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Results

The experiment tested the boiling point of water with different amounts of salt. The data showed that the condition with four teaspoons of salt had the highest boiling point of 104.4 degrees Celsius. The conditions with less amounts of salt had a lower boiling point temperature.

All Raw Data

two teaspoons: boiling point trial 1 90, boiling point trial 2 100, boiling point trial 3 103.3, boiling point trial 4 101.3, boiling point trial 5 102.2, boiling point trial 6 101.7, and mean(of all 6 trials) 99.9.

four teaspoons: boiling point trial 1 103.1, boiling point trial 2 104.2, boiling point trial 3 105.5, boiling point trial 4 104.4, boiling point trial 5 105, boiling point trial 6 104.1, and mean(of all 6 trials) 104.4.

no salt: boiling point trial 1 100.6, boiling point trial 2 91.3, boiling point trial 3 100.6, boiling point trial 4 100.2, boiling point trial 5 99.5, boiling point trial 6 99.7, and mean(of all 6 trials) 98.7.

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Data Averages:

98.7-no salt
99.9-2 teaspoons
104.4-4 teaspoons

Conclusion

This experiment tested whether adding salt to water would affect the boiling point. The independent variable was the amount of salt, the dependent variable was boiling temperature. The data shows that the increase of salt in water, raises the boiling point. The condition with no salt had the lowest boiling point average at 98.7 degrees Celsius. With two teaspoons of salt it was 99.9 degrees Celsius and four teaspoons was 104.4 degrees Celsius.

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Discussion

The experiment question was “does adding salt to water affect the boiling point?” The experiment concluded that the more salt you add, the higher the boiling point is. The boiling point average of the water with the most salt was 104.4 degrees Celsius. This was the highest temperature, out of the water with no salt, and the water with two teaspoons of salt. The hypothesis that was predicted was found to be true.
Our data proved that what was researched about this subject was correct. There was a relationship between the independent and dependent variable, as the independent variable changed, (amount of salt) so did the dependent variable (temperature). Prior to the experiment the main challenge was how the temperature was going to be measured accurately and efficiently. The supervisor recommended that instead of normal thermometers, that the use of thermometers that are hooked up to the computer would be highly recommended. This was recommended so that the temperature could be recorded every second, opposed to every two minutes. During each trial we noticed that one thermometer didn’t work very well and wasn’t accurate. The solution to that problem was we made sure each condition used that thermometer twice. So when we averaged the temperatures they evened out.

What should have been done, was to learn and be more comfortable with setting up the experiment, and knowing how to use the computer program. If that was done the experiment would have taken less time, and would have overall made the experiment more organized. A lot of research was done to find out if it was true that salt did affect the boiling point of water. Most sites claimed that was true, and those helped with coming up with a hypothesis. The data that was collected could help someone who was seeking to find data about the effect of water with salt. Our data could show someone who wanted to know if salt would affect the temperature. This information could help scientists who need hot water. Also, it could help a chef cook their meals faster and save fuel money. They could add salt to it, so they could raise the temperature. This is a way to make the boiling point higher.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

The benefit to community is that the experiment data could help chefs save time and money. They can cook their food faster, which concludes to spending less money on fuel.

Abstract

This experiment tested whether adding salt to water would affect the boiling point. First the same amount of water was put into three different flasks, and three different amount of salts were added. After that was done, water was boiled and the temperature of the water was recorded. The independent variable was the amount of salt, the dependent variable was boiling temperature. The data shows that the increase of salt in water, raises the boiling point. The condition with no salt had the lowest boiling point average at 98.7 degrees Celsius. With two teaspoons of salt it was 99.9 degrees Celsius and four teaspoons was 104.4 degrees Celsius. The experiment data could help a lot of people. For example, it could help chefs with their work. When they boil water for meals, if they add salt, it would conclude with a faster boiling time. Faster boiling time also means that they are saving money using less fuel.